Reimagined Phantom of the Opera’ makes U.S. debut Wednesday in Providence

Sunday

Nov 24, 2013 at 12:01 AM

Sir Cameron Mackintosh is pretty tight-lipped about his new reimagined “The Phantom of the Opera,” which opens its North American tour Wednesday at the Providence Performing Arts Center....

Channing Gray Special to The Journal Channing_Gray

Sir Cameron Mackintosh is pretty tight-lipped about his new reimagined “The Phantom of the Opera,” which opens its North American tour Wednesday at the Providence Performing Arts Center. But he did say on the phone the other day that it’s a “darker, grittier” staging of the popular musical.

“The show is completely reimagined,” said Mackintosh, one of the most successful theatrical producers in the world. “It’s as grand as the original, with even more of it.”

Although the opening of the show has not been changed, the descent into the phantom’s lair in the bowels of the Paris Opera is no longer set in a black box, but more a labyrinth of passageways, said Mackintosh from his home in England’s West Country. He said he didn’t want to give away secrets, but the walls seem to move.

“Audiences should say, ‘Wow, that’s not what I expected.’ ”

The second act no longer opens on the staircase, but in the hall of mirrors. And contrary to rumors that the cascading chandelier has been scrapped, it’s still there and is “even more real and far different.”

Other changes can be found in the lighting and choreography, along with the orchestration, which has been “tweaked.” Also, the original staging took place within a gold proscenium, said Mackintosh. Now the proscenium comes and goes.

Mackintosh, 67, said he did not set out to fundamentally change “Phantom,” but just add more “dramatic density.” He said the production has gained something by being slightly more realistic. People find the added degree of reality gives the show more tension, he said.

And that has translated into sold-out houses in England, where this new version of “Phantom” was on tour for 15 months.

Of course, the original “Phantom” is still going strong, celebrating its 27th birthday in London’s West End, and a quarter-century on Broadway. But this new show has gotten the best notices “Phantom” has ever had, said Mackintosh.

Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Phantom, which debuted in 1986, is the longest running show in Broadway history, hands down, earning more than $5.6 billion worldwide.

The show, as most everyone knows, concerns a beautiful soprano named Christine Daae, who becomes the obsession of a mysterious, disfigured musical genius who haunts the Paris Opera.

And Mackintosh was in on the project from the beginning, starting in 1984, when Lloyd Webber brought to him the idea of creating a musical from Gaston Leroux’s early 20th-century novel. His name has been associated with the show ever since.

Mackintosh said this new production has been in the works for the past seven years, on and off. At this point the show is booked in the United States for at least two or three years, he said.

Mackintosh is also remounting “Les Miserables” and “Miss Saigon,” which is about to open in London. “I never believed almost 30 years into these shows that they would still have power. But we’ve been able to reimagine them for a whole new audience.”

But then, said Mackintosh, musical theater is more popular than ever, especially among younger audiences, which was not the case when he was growing up and working as a stage manager in his teens.

He said he’s doing one-third of his business now in Asia, a market that didn’t exist a decade ago. Musical theater, he said, is one of the few businesses that survived the recession.

A couple of weeks ago, he said the 11-day PPAC run was 80 percent sold out, and that the anniversary tour of “Les Mis” was playing to “105 percent” capacity, doing better than the original.

“That’s my kind of statistic,” he said.

And Mackintosh said he has done that without relying on stars, just “star performances.”

The main thing about this new “Phantom,” he said, “is that the people who loved the original will have some very pleasant surprises, and anyone who has not seen the show will understand why it’s so great.”

“Phantom of the Opera” opens Wednesday and runs through Dec. 7 at the Providence Performing Arts Center, 220 Weybosset St. Tickets are $58-$110. Call (401) 421-2787, or visit ppacri.org.

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